If you have an idea, technology is always going to be part of the solution. Maybe you have in mind the perfect tool or technological service that is perfect for your clients, but putting this into practice requires good advice. That’s why there are companies whose work involves making your craziest tech dreams come true, by turning them into reality (virtual or physical). This is what Zembia does. This Chilean startup combines creativity, technology and innovation to create digital products, from hardware devices to mobile and web platforms, that people want and business needs.

"For startups, it's a case of innovating or dying. Innovation is a form of survival instinct."

Rodolfo Redlich Bolomey, Zembia’s co-founder and project manager 

“We offer companies our ability to create hardware and software products, while behind the scenes we aim to produce a new internal product every year,” says Rodolfo Redlich Bolomey, Zembia’s co-founder and project manager. From idea to prototype to the final product, Zembia works alongside its clients and provides them with the best possible technology solutions.

Entrepreneurial and creative spirit

Redlich says that we live in dizzying times. Markets are being disrupted practically every year and “Innovation should be part of the culture of all companies.” This is particularly true  of startups: “For startups it's a case of innovating or dying. Finding a space in the market means doing things differently, but above all, better. It's a basic survival instinct.”

"Innovation is teamwork. Staying curious, constantly asking the right questions about the problems we face but, above all, spreading this approach to the rest of the environment."

Rodolfo Redlich Bolomey, co-founder and project manager of Zembia

That’s the spirit of the Zembia team. Redlich says: “I believe that the passion to create things was latent in all the members of this team, which includes musicians, inventors, hackers, designers and entrepreneurs. Creating a company was partly due to our desire to make things happen.”  That’s how the startup was born in 2013.

Although “the free fall was intense, especially on account of our lack of experience, we landed well, and now, after six years of hard work, we can proudly say that our clients now include major international companies.”

Telemetry from a different perspective with Enel

In 2016, Zembia took part in Enel Chile’s smart-meters open innovation challenge. It   came up with the idea of creating a product line – using IoT and telemetry (remote data measurement) – that generates value for the end customer. The idea was to see how awareness of consumption can impact  behaviour. “The pilot consisted of inviting 20 families to a Facebook group account where we reported their consumption compared with their neighbours over the course of a 30-day competition. At the end of the month, we interviewed all of the families  and gained valuable insights which enabled us to develop a mobile application prototype that we presented at the Enel contest,” explains Redlich.

Zembia won and started to work with both Enel Chile and Enel Peru. “We tested the application with the Enel smart metering team, with a view to  giving more value to the smart meter data to the people,” the co-founder adds. The final product, the  ‘Mi Enel’ mobile app, presents the information from Enel's smart meters in a user-friendly way, and generates recommendations for an efficient use of electric energy to the customers.

“We were impressed by the speed with which our implementation work with the smart metering team in Chile became known in the rest of Latin America,” says Redlich, who also highlights the excellent communication between the different units of Enel in the different countries.

In the near future, the Zembia wants to improve the adoption of telemetry. “How can we win people over to the idea of smart metering? How do we show that this is a tool that can be beneficial for them?” Redlich asks. “We believe that this is the key question, and we are working on it.”